Killing Rage

This collection of 23 mostly new essays is required reading for anyone who seeks, to use hooks’ words, to “decolonize her mind.” It’s invaluable to the necessary process of self-interrogation that is part of any involvement in a feminist or anti-racist movement; she dissects racist and sexist thought so that you can both criticize it in others and identify your own complicity. She reminds you that anti-racism needs to be a fundamental part of feminism and vice-versa. Best of all, for all her sharp recognition of racism, sexism, and elitism in mainstream culture and in supposedly progressive subcultures, she never loses hope. “When all women and men engaged in feminist struggle understand the interlocking nature of systems of domination, of white supremacist capitalist patriarchy, feminist movement will regain its revolutionary progressive momentum,” she declares (p. 107)— and the more people read her work, the sooner this’ll happen.